Storytelling has been a critical component of the PJHC (Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities) Summer Service Internship since its inception in 2007. Initially, PJHC minors wrote short colorful essays and designed poster presentations about their summ­ers serving under-resourced communities.   The PJHC Summer Service Internship reception provided a forum for the presentations and for distribution of collections of the essays.  “The reception has been great for the poster presentation, but we wanted to find a way to more vividly convey students’ experiences to guests,” explained Anne Dayton, PJHC Program Manager.

Dayton became familiar with digital storytelling as an instructor in COMM 103 “Academic Writing and Argument,” the precursor of today’s Freshman Writing Intensive Seminar.  Dayton explained how digital storytelling takes the form of a short film that can be produced using desktop software.  Components of the 3-5 minute film include still shots, spoken words, and music. The films are typically produced in iMovie or Moviemaker, video-editing software with features like maps and title sequencing.

PJHC Director Diana Strassmann describes the internships as “purposefully designed to avoid treating community members as research subjects. Instead,” she explains, “students are encouraged to spend their internships listening to people and learning from them rather than trying to fit their experiences into academic theories.”  Watching brief clips from the digital stories, it is easy to see the intense dedication fueling the students’ incredible journeys to make a difference in the lives of people around the world.  Upon returning to Rice, the students learn to share their stories through compelling narratives and exceptional photos.  Dayton explains, “We want the students to go out into the world, hear the stories of the people and come back to Rice to retell the stories.” Dayton takes great pride in the students’ grasp of digital technologies, which enhance viewer’s responses to the stories.

“In 2013, PJHC alumna Kristen Gagalis (Lovett ‘12) suggested we ask interns to make films about their internships instead of writing essays,” noted Dayton, “and  I thought of digital storytelling, which does not require technical experience and would allow each student to tell their individual story in a short film.”  Dayton said that the interns were enthusiastic about participating in this pilot project.  Then she smiled and added, “But we knew they were adventurous students – they were seeking internships in developing countries –many traveling to the Global South.  They would definitely be up for an adventure when it came to telling their stories!”

It Takes a Village to Create a Workshop

As the instructor for HUMA 300 “PJHC Service Reflection” –a half-semester course — Dayton’s biggest challenge was envisioning the whole process.  “I had to take the end result – a short film – and then work backwards.  How could I design a course as a collaborative workshop for digital storytelling?” mused Dayton.  Elizabeth Festa of the Center for Writing and Oral Communications guided Dayton in structuring the assignment and provided the class with an overview of the history of digital storytelling in a guest lecture. Paul Hester, of the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts provided guidance on digital images.  “He came in after the photos were already taken,” said Dayton, “but he was impressed with the quality of the students’ photographs and helped them choose the best images for their stories.”  Jane Zhao and Bradley Selke of the Digital Media Commons showed the students how to put their stories together with desktop software such as Photoshop, iMovie, and Audacity.

Carlos Solis, Assistant Director for Academic Technology Services, provided crucial technical support and collaboration, suggesting tools like Ensemble [see related IT News story] and WordPress. The first challenge was to enable the students to share their photographs.  “Initially we planned to use Google Drive,” Dayton recalled, “but we had difficulty ensuring that everyone in the class had access to each other’s images. When Carlos learned about the challenges we faced, he set up a private Word Press blog for the class. Once we had the blog set up we used it for several subsequent assignments including the script drafts and revisions.” The class blog proved invaluable for sharing students’ work. “Students were comfortable sharing their work on the blog because it was only accessible to members of the class. They were able to comment on each other’s scripts and photographs. It was easy to refer back to earlier versions of scripts or look for a particular photo since all of the material was in one location,” explained Dayton. “I enjoyed working with the Word Press blog,” added Dayton, “and we will set up the course blog over the summer for our 2015 interns so they can share images and stories during their internship experiences.”  

“I Can’t, We Can”

“The students’ final stories were even better than we expected,” Dayton said. “We were so pleased with how well the students responded to the challenge, and with the touching, creative stories they produced.  The subtitle of one of the films is ‘I Can’t, We Can’ and that just sums up our project.  The positive outcome and vision for digital stories could not have been accomplished [by anyone working alone]…through working together, we were able to produce highly impressive digital stories.”

To view video interviews with the students with brief excerpts from their films, watch the documentary, “PJHC Internship Digital Stories” available on the Academic Technologies web site: http://edtech.blogs.rice.edu/faculty-support/.

For more information on using WordPress for sharing and commenting on image collections or using Ensemble to create private, public, and course-related video playlists, see the related IT News story.

Dr. Beason-Abmayr as she interactively discusses material with BIOC 335 students

While many flipped and SCAL@R courses have proved successful, some Rice faculty members remain hesitant to use SCAL@R spaces or flip their classes because they fear it means changing everything about their teaching.  What is the payoff of flipping a class, and will it outweigh the costs of changing?

Biochemistry and Cell Biology lecturer Beth Beason-Abmayr is passionate about flipping her classes. “I would teach every class this way if I could,” declared Beason-Abmayr.  “There are still misconceptions out there about the amount of work to flip a class or use a SCAL@R space.  Flipping may take a little more time investment in the beginning, but like traditional lectures, you only need to tweak the video clips a little after the first year.”

“It [time investment to flip a lecture] really pays off in terms of what students get out of the class when they aren’t spending most of the class time taking notes on the lecture, “Beason-Abmayr continued. “Active learning during class time helps students achieve affective goals, which are goals that address attitude, motivation, interest, confidence, enthusiasm, etc. and are difficult to measure.” Beason-Abmayr said the use of flipped lectures and SCAL@R teaching spaces has enhanced her teaching experience and she has also received positive feedback from her students, but where does an instructor begin if they want to try either of the tools?

Flipping One Lecture at a Time

When Beason-Abmayr started experimenting with SCAL@R in the fall of 2011, she had no Thursday classes, so she began flipping her lectures for BIOC 311 (Advanced Experimental Biosciences) on those days.  Thursdays were “when I prepared the videos.  I stayed about a week ahead of the students. Thursdays, I would stay late – it is more quiet in the evening, less background noise – and create 3-5 short videos,” she explained.

Although using Panopto to record her videos was very time consuming, Beason-Abmayr emphasized, “It is so much easier now, working with videos on Camtasia and Ensemble.” (Note: simple recording instructions are published on the EdTech web site: http://edtech.blogs.rice.edu/how-to-videos/).

Once her videos are created, Beason-Abmayr tweaks her lectures each semester, but, for the most part, the technology aspect of Beason-Abmayr’s course extends no farther than OWL-Space. “Each semester,” Beason-Abmayr says, “I just select the appropriate videos for the current topic and post the links in OWL-Space.”

Beason-Abmayr uses OWL-space to collect student feedback about her class and incorporates modifications based on their input. In one course, students write brief reflections every few weeks. “I love reading about what stood out the most, interested them, challenged them,” she explained, “but I also use the feedback to shape the course.” She plans to continue using this activity in the upcoming semester.

Incorporating Primary Literature for SCAL@R Activities 

A BIOC 335 collaborates to solve some follow-up problems on their homework article posted on OWL-space

Flipping a class does not require a SCAL@R space, and using a SCAL@R space does not require recording video lectures. SCAL@R spaces can be used by any instructor who wants to incorporate group activities within their class time, and flipping a class, Beason-Abmayr explains, means, “Students study, read, or work with the basic content and background information before coming to class.” Thus, a flipped class can involve more active learning such as discussions or group problem solving along with shorter, in-class lectures.

One of Beason-Abmayr’s SCAL@R activities includes the exploration of primary literature in her lecture course on Cellular and Molecular Animal Physiology (Biochemistry 335). With students in this course ranging from freshmen to seniors and working toward various majors, Beason-Abmayr divides her students into diverse teams, which collaborate in and out of her classroom. She utilizes OWL-Space to assign supplemental reading: “One of the best things about OWL-Space is linking to journal articles for my class. If Fondren has a subscription for the journal, I just post the link in OWL-Space.  Any student on the Rice network can use the journals. By posting the link in OWL-Space, students in my class can go directly to the article, straight from the OWL-Space site and they don’t have to search for it on their own.”

Dr. Beason-Abmayr keeps her students engaged and active in her SCAL@R classes!

Off-campus students can use  VPN (virtual private network) to connect to the campus network and access the restricted articles. “Linking to journal articles on OWL-Space is such an easy way to get real-world articles to my students,” said Beason-Abmayr, “and I don’t have to worry about copyright infringement or making paper copies.” After students have read the journal articles, they are encouraged to discuss the author’s findings in their next class. Through follow-up questions about these articles on her exams, Beason-Abmayr noted that the group discussions successfully helped students grasp the material. Students, including freshmen, became more actively involved in class discussions during the semester, which suggests that SCAL@R spaces and activities encourage small group discussions and help build student confidence through their contributions to the group!

IT’s Academic Technology Services (ATS) team collaborates in several ways with the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) to support Rice professors striving to excel in their teaching techniques.

Each semester, Rice faculty and graduate student instructors can attend several lunch-time brown bag workshops on pedagogy topics, often followed by a hands-on training session to learn new teaching tools discussed in the pedagogy workshop. Can’t make one of the sessions? All the CTE-ATS events are recorded and archived in a video repository.

CTE and ATS also evaluate new tools at the request of Rice instructors, to determine if and where synergies with existing technologies can be developed.  When a new teaching technology is proposed as a campus-wide solution, ATS and CTE work closely to consult with the vendor, ensuring a smooth implementation and trial phase.

Rice faculty interest in pedagogy and teaching technology prompted a weekly reading group on Teaching and Technology topics, and a teaching space in Mudd Lab allows instructors to explore lecture capture and screen-share systems before launching the tools in their own classrooms.  The screen-share technology is an excellent resource for group discussions because the teacher can choose to project their own computer and/or the screens of linked student-use computers.

To learn more about the workshops and other resources, contact either CTE or the ATS team.

Recommend an Excellent Rice Instructor

Do you know an excellent Rice instructor?  Each month, the IT News Blog features Rice faculty who are using interesting technologies for their courses. Suggest instructors for future interviews by emailing itinput@rice.edu.

Dr. Fleisher keeps his class engaged as he teaches Virtual Reconstruction of Historic Cities.

About four years ago, Anthropology professor Jeffrey Fleisher says he received a wake up call when he read a student’s evaluation of his course Archaeology 205 (Introduction to Archaeology): “Professor Fleisher hates this class, not the students, but the material.” As a professor passionate about teaching and helping his students learn, Dr. Fleisher reflected and realized that it was time “to do something different.”

To spice up this course, he turned to technology. Instead of a usual lecture-style course, Fleisher flipped his class so that students worked on problem sets during class, which gave them the same understanding as lectures on the same material. Eventually, he hopes to create short videos to post on 0WL-space as supplemental explanations of topics. This teaching technique has proved to be more efficient and effective.

For instance, Fleisher used to spend an entire week each semester explaining the techniques archaeologists use to date artifacts and sites. Now, he has expedited this process: his students read some key texts, and then work with site data developed to test their understanding of how and when to use particular dating techniques. During the class period, they check in with Fleisher to tell him which item they are going to use and how they will apply it. According to Fleisher, students learn more quickly because “this trial and error forces them to find out how the technique works,” as well as its limitations. Not only is the time spent on this topic shortened, but the lessons students learn are also more memorable and thus more valuable!

Flipping a class is time consuming and can seem daunting. However, Fleisher has been flipping his course gradually: “I have taken the long view, and, after three years, about 60% of my class is flipped. It is a five-year plan.” He initiated the process with some help from Carlos Solis, Manager for Educational Technologies in the IT division. After purchasing some GPS-enabled cameras—funded by a Brown Teaching Grant—and using open source software like Jet Photo, he was able to use this technology to record and analyze field data. “Carlos helped me figure out how to do it [record field data collection] with GPS-enabled cameras,” Fleisher explained. “I set up a fake archeology survey on campus, then, they [his students] have to go look for sites made of breakfast cereal. They have to find out that how the materials are distributed matters,” and thus learn about how archaeologists plan, carry out, and interpret archaeological surveys.

While this introductory course is his favorite class to teach, Fleisher goes above and beyond in his pursuit of educational excellence in other areas, too. Every other summer since 2009, he has directed the Rice University Archaeological Field School on a remote island off the coast of Tanzania (http://www.songomnara.rice.edu/index). There, they camp for 6 weeks at an archaeological site and perform summer field research, earning 6 Rice credit hours. Fleisher says, “On that program they are exposed to a whole host of projects and data recording from computers to survey equipment.” For the past 20 years, Fleisher has been working on the eastern African coast, and sometimes he even brings materials back to the United States for continued research. Again, through this program, Fleisher is providing his students with an unforgettable, hands-on learning experience.

Dr. Fleisher teaches Virtual Reconstruction of Historic Cities

Another unique opportunity Fleisher provides for students is a course that is the first class at Rice to be cross-listed in four departments: Virtual Reconstruction of Historic Cities. Along with Art History’s John Hopkins, Fleisher offers this 300-level Art History, Archaeology, Architecture, and Computer Science course. Students are divided into three project teams and are provided basic information at the beginning of the semester. By the end of the class, they must have a 3D model of their site or ruins! With a faculty instructor mentoring each team and special software made possible by a K2I ERIT grant, computer science and architecture students begin the course assessing the software they will need for the project. Meanwhile, their art history and archaeology teammates research data and artifacts from their site. The art historians and archaeologists pass along data to the architect who constructs a 3D model. Then, the computer scientist is able to program the model into gaming software, in which users can virtually explore buildings and features. Fleisher adds, “You can move through [the digital model] – as if you were a character in a game. This is pretty amazing stuff…” These impressive projects can be explored here: virtualreconstruction.rice.edu.

Obviously, the use of technology in this course is extensive. On top of the software the students are using to research and construct models, they are also using Google Drive to communicate and share information and photos. This allows for a team-based approach to the class, which is “critical,” according to Fleisher, for successfully completing the semester-long challenge of creating a model from nothing! Clearly, Fleisher has innovatively made this course challenging but fruitful, too.

Although Fleisher might have received some negative feedback a few years back, he has used this to better himself as a teacher and to better his courses for his students. From his Introduction to Archaeology course, which he has diligently been working to flip for maximum efficiency, to his trips to Tanzania, to his Virtual Reconstruction of Historic Cities, Fleisher strives to keep his students learning through engaging but challenging simulations of what they will encounter in their future careers.

After student reviews deemed her initial use of lecture videos in BIOC 311 successful, Biochemistry and Cell Biology lecturer Beth Beason-Abmayr decided to take her SCAL@R classroom technique one step further by recording demos of lab activities for her freshman laboratory course, BIOC 111. Freshman BIOC 111 catapults new Rice Natural Science majors into the type of learning for which the university is renowned. Beginning with the first class of the semester, Beason-Abmayr challenges her students to take responsibility for their own learning both in and out of the lab.

 Beason-Abmayr had found it difficult to attain a high level of dynamic learning from students in their lab work, where detailed lab procedures had to be explained before the students could begin their lab activities.  “Before I began flipping my classrooms and labs, I used to spend 45 minutes talking the students through the preparation before a lab,” explained Beason-Abmayr.  “And I often had to repeat the instructions several times during lab.”

It was students in her first SCAL@R class with BIOC 311 who proposed lab demo videos. “They offered to do them, borrowed a camera from EdTech, showed me the results and asked me to if they could film me completing the activities.”  Now, there are approximately 15 video clips used in Beason-Abmayr’s BIOC 111 lab class, which she created after making 40 other lecture and demo videos for her BIOC 311 course.

Students are encouraged to bring their laptops to the lab in case they want to review different aspects of the videos while setting up their own activities.  The lab teaching assistants (TAs) can tell who has not watched the videos and say the students who haven’t prepared adequately “just look lost.”  Around these students, their classmates who already know how to run the lab activity are busy setting up and checking details against the video.

Has this innovative technique been as effective as Beason-Abmayr’s lecture videos for BIOC 311? By using the pre-class video clips in the lab environment, Beason-Abmayr has reduced the amount of time students spend in lab by as much as an hour. The lab and lecture videos are successful not only from an efficiency perspective, but she was also excited when her BIOC 111 students would say ‘Oh, I watched the videos and they really helped!’”

Associate Professor of Musicology Peter Loewen flips between sound bytes and sheet music.

If the history of music (musicology) begins with weird music notation and extinct instruments, how can it be taught to students today?  Using multimedia tools and other high tech resources, Peter Loewen, Associate Professor of Musicology, breathes life into his course material at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

Loewen specializes in teaching the history of Western music from antiquity through the Renaissance. Although his academic focus is the Middle Ages, he has utilized 20th-21st century technologies since he began teaching in graduate school. Realizing at that time that “he was spending too much time writing and drawing on the chalkboard” during his lectures, Loewen has since sought to maximize teaching efficiency with the latest technologies.

Loewen’s drive for using technology began when he wanted a “moveable chalkboard” that he could re-use. When PowerPoint was introduced, Loewen saw its potential and attended workshops to learn how to use this tool. After he integrated the slides into his curriculum, his students asked him to provide copies of his presentations as study aids. In those days, copies were strictly paper, so Loewen left an original set of his slides in the library that students could check out and copy. When online university portals became available, Loewen began uploading his presentations to the portal, eliminating trips to the library.

Podcast Lectures

Interested in remaining at the forefront of educational technology, Loewen started recording his lectures in podcasts–published through iTunes University– to include with the slides in his portal site. He says, “I thought it was a good idea, because if students missed class, they could catch up, or, if they needed to review a lecture they could listen through iTunes. They had my PowerPoint notes and my lectures.”

Arriving at Rice in 2006, Loewen was thrilled to discover Owl-Space. He states, “I used it [Owl-Space] to the max as soon as I got here.” Early in his Rice career, Loewen became frustrated with wasted class time during his lectures as he flipped back and forth between PowerPoint slides and sound recordings, all the while trying to keep his students following along in their sheet music anthologies. Once again, he turned to technology to integrate the notes and listening samples. After trying out document cameras, Loewen began uploading CDs for the music samples plus his annotated sheet music to Owl-Space.  He found that if he assigned listening to these pieces as pre-class homework, the resulting class discussion was much better. Loewen eventually embedded mp3 files directly into his pdf copies of annotated scores. Now, he can show annotated sheet music, discuss the points he wants to make, and play the listening samples without leaving his projected music. He also began capturing his lectures using Panopto and then Camtasia, which improved on the podcast because it included the audio of his lecture and showed video of whatever was on his computer screen (PowerPoint slides, sheet music, etc.). He uploaded the captured lectures to Owl-Space right after class.

The Flip

However, Loewen still felt he could further improve his class experience with the help of new technologies. “So much in the classroom is all about me, my lecture, my examples. Some students are engaged, others maybe not so much. Some students stopped coming to class because they could see my lectures on the captured recordings.” How could he solve this problem, which is prevalent in many university lecture-style classes?  By flipping his class. “I’m prerecording all my lectures and uploading them through Camtasia [linked to his OWL-Space site so students can view them before class]. Students come to class…and know the historical circumstances, which leaves more time in class for discussion and to talk about the music.”

Bring Your Own Examples and Share the Screen

Not only did Loewen utilize technology by making his recorded lectures assigned homework, but he also chose to incorporate his students’ personal technology devices inside the classroom. After viewing his lectures, his students are expected to find and bring new examples of that style of music on their own mobile devices. Students’ devices range from laptops to tablets, but smart phones could be used as well. Using Gateway connections, students project sheet music and other images onto the classroom screen from their wireless devices. The result? Loewen excitedly says, “Students got engaged this semester!” Instead of merely looking at one example of each kind of music, Loewen and his class are looking at multiple examples, which Loewen believes better helps his students understand the material.

While there are many advantages to this innovative style of classroom, there are unforeseen challenges for professor and students alike. For Loewen, the process of distilling his material for his PowerPoint slides and lectures and perfecting his slides and recordings has taken an extensive amount of time. He says, “It’s a lot of work, but I’ve always tinkered with my lectures. I like teaching.” He may continue to edit his lectures each year, but he does feel this year’s projects will be reusable.

Students Pushed Back

For students, Loewen says, “They did originally complain that it [his flipped class] was more work outside of class” because they were completing at least one and a half hours of preparation before even coming to class.  In response, Loewen dropped the required textbook reading for his class.  “My lectures covered the textbook’s material,” he explained, adding that he hoped to make his class slightly less onerous since “music students already have so much time each week committed to practicing their respective instruments.”

Now, students seem to enjoy sharing their examples with Loewen and their classmates.  Since Loewen’s avant-garde approach and high tech classroom flipping minimizes lecture time in class, there is more time to dig deeply into the material, which enlivens peer discussions. It is not surprising that he intends to extend this method to his other undergraduate and graduate level courses.

The flipping classroom trend began around 2007 as instructors discovered technology tools that were easily embraced by students.  In this blended learning style, students digest lecture material before class and spend class time completing instructor facilitated problem-solving activities or discussions in small groups. Today, Rice students might be watching their professor’s pre-recorded lectures in OWL-Space to digest the basics of the lesson before discussing solutions in class; they might be collaborating on projects through Google Hangout, or they might be using their smart phones to answer polls during class.  All these, and many more, create methods of engaging students in a course’s subject matter.

Taking this style of engaged learning activity even further by including interested students not attending Rice University is a daunting task, but 20 Rice professors have successfully tackled the challenge by developing massively open online courses (MOOCs).  Most of the faculty members are incorporating their MOOC into their Rice student’s course syllabus, adapting lesson plans to include the video and pre-homework assignments so that class time can be spent in experiments, problem-solving, and discussion.  IT’s Educational Technologies (ET) team supports both methods of teaching and learning, as well as technologies and tools used in more traditional classrooms.